Page 8 - Oundle Life

The Elizabethan and early Stuart period
has been described as the time of the great rebuilding, when many medieval houses were either extensively modernised or completely rebuilt. Oundle contains some fine examples of both. The fine buildings of this period show how prosperous the town was from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.
Eighteenth century Oundle, like many other small market towns, included a wide range of trades and occupations, such as shoemakers, fellmongers, a tanner, a turner, a Hemp Dresser, a Rope Maker, Slaters, Watchmakers, ‘Innholders, a Fishmonger, a Miller, Grocers,
a ‘Jockey’ (who was probably a Horse Dealer), some Glovers, and a Gunsmith. John Clifton, master carpenter, perhaps sexton, and diarist, wrote vividly of the pleasures and hardships of the late eighteenth century, including floods, smallpox, fairs and bullrunning, the goings-on of his fellow townsmen, astronomy
and gardening. His will shows that he had a considerable library.
Oundle developed little in the nineteenth century. The station was opened in 1845, but it does not appear to have made much impact. The Market House was built after the Improvement Act of 1825. Three Nonconformist Churches and the Jesus Church, built by the Watts-Russell family as an Anglican Church, were added. Oundle was the centre of a Poor Law Union, but its workhouse has been demolished and only the chapel remains, which has been converted into a private house. Smiths, the brewers, owned much of Oundle. Their brewery in North Street was built in 1775, and supplying the military camps at Norman Cross during the Napoleonic Wars boosted business, but it closed in 1962 and has now been demolished.
Nineteenth century Oundle had a strong Non-conformist tradition, stemming from the Elizabeth puritans. In a population of about